


Distance Bridged

by SpadesDame



Series: Flare: to burn; to ignite [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Atem is working on them, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Seto has issues, Seto's fragile perception of the world, also his trust, fluff in second chapter, nobody is breaking up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9619862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpadesDame/pseuds/SpadesDame
Summary: “Kaiba, do you have anything to say to me?” Seto swallowed. Not Seto, not ‘dragon’, as Atem had taken to calling him, but ‘Kaiba’. If he hadn’t been about to face the wrath in Atem’s eyes before, he sure as hell wasn’t going to now.He realized, with no little chagrin, he was going to miss being called ‘dragon’.{Companion piece to 'Distance'. Part two of two.}





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of my ficlet "Distance". It would be advisable to read that first. <3 cheers!

Atem unlocked the door with a weary sigh, glad to finally be home. It was Saturday, and he was supposed to spend it with Seto and Mokuba, but Jounouchi had pleaded with him for help and there had been no way out of it. At least, not without Seto’s help in faking a reason. That is, if Seto had been picking up the phone. Any phone.

Inside, he halted. Red met grey and they both paused mid-stride, Mokuba –straw to his lips- stared at him. Atem stared back.

“You’re back.” Mokuba finally said. Matter of fact. Atem slowly unwrapped his scarf, not taking his eyes off Mokuba lest he tried anything.

“I kind of live here,” he said, in the same tone. The underlying question was unmistakable. Mokuba snorted loudly and shook his head, the battle of gazes broken.

“Yeah,” Mokuba tossed his head in the direction of the stairs. “Tell that to him.”

Atem automatically looked towards the empty staircase. His law locked, lips pressed in a thin line. He had been waiting for the right moment to breach the subject ever since Monday night when Yuugi had let slip that Seto had been ignoring him. Only the right moment had never come, but he was damned if he was going to let it go this time.

He took off towards the stairs, barely conscious to Mokuba’s shout of “good luck” from the hall. Atem completely passed the bedroom, knowing that was not where he would find Seto on a Saturday night.

A Saturday night he had fancied his lover leaving him. Again.

By the time he reached the office and threw the door open, he was clutching his scarf in his closed fist. Seto, looking up from the laptop screen with the look of a deer caught in the headlights, confirmed it. The quick schooling of his expression as he went back to typing did nothing to cover it. Atem had seen all he needed.

 *

Seto resumed typing, willing himself not to look at Atem. The other man had not moved from his spot at the door since he almost broke it down with the force he had used.

“Hn.”

He was keenly aware of the door, a gravity pull to his right that made no scientific sense but also of Atem’s gaze on him, burning into the side of his head, unbearable. He wished he would stop already, stop this farce they were involved in because he was unsure how much more he could take.

“Seto what the hell?”

Seto flinched, a minute stutter in his typing before he continued as if nothing was amiss. As if he wasn’t waiting for Atem to say it.

He hoped Atem would fail to notice the stiffness of his shoulders, or the force with which his jaws were clamped together.

A shift of fabric, and Seto would guess Atem had crossed his arms. He always did that when he was feeling unsure. Only it didn’t make that much sense for him to be feeling unsure about this. It was only long overdue that he went running to his ‘partner’. They had known this, after all, when they had made this arrangement like reasonable adults.

“Kaiba, do you have anything to say to me?” Seto swallowed. Not Seto, not ‘dragon’, as Atem had taken to calling him, but ‘Kaiba’. If he hadn’t been about to face the wrath in Atem’s eyes before, he sure as hell wasn’t going to now.

He realized, with no little chagrin, he was going to miss being called ‘dragon’.

“Seto, look at me you damn coward.” The last sentence was ground out through Atem’s teeth, more a growl than words, but it made him turn his head nonetheless.

There was anger, in Atem’s pursed lips, in the eyes that blazed, in his clutched fists. But there was also something else that Seto couldn’t identify. Whatever it was, he met it head on.

“Could we move this forward? As you see I’m busy.”

“The hell you are.” With a swift step forward, Atem had reached over and slammed the laptop screen shut. Seto, only barely managing to retract his fingers, scowled. He looked at Atem, considered the probability of an escape route to become a necessity. Atem had his palms pressed flat on the surface of the desk, his eyes locked on Seto’s own. Then something in his gaze clicked. He tilted his head, eyes narrowed. “What do you think this is, exactly?”

“Did you forget something?” Seto said instead. “I can have Isono help you pack.”

“Yes, it looks like I did miss something.” A dark chuckle. “Are you throwing me out, Seto?”

“I assumed we had reached a mutual understanding.” A viscous cold had permeated his limbs, licking up his spine. He purposely remained seated.

“Enlighten me.”

Seto’s jaw ground together. Would he make him spell it out? “I am merely speeding up the inevitable.” Immediately, after the words had left his mouth, he was filled with the irrational need to take them back. That was impossible, and it felt like a huge concession. He had just revealed his hand to an opponent. Now he could only wait for his move.

For the longest time, Atem did not speak. Seto realized he had looked away at some point when he had to deviate his gaze from the window to follow the rustle of clothing. Atem was methodically shrugging out of his coat, setting it straight before draping it over an empty chair. His jacket came next. Then he rolled up the sleeves of his pullover, never once looking at Seto until the process was finished. Seto didn’t understand what he was doing, but he suspected him to be counting internally as Yuugi had suggested he did when he was ready to blow.

When had Seto started to be able to fill his silences?

“You think we are going to leave you.”

When Atem finally spoke, it almost didn’t register in Seto’s muddled brain. The other man was still too engrossed in the folds of his coat, running his hands over it as he waited for a response. Seto opened his mouth, ready to argue that he didn’t ‘think’ they would. He ‘knew’ it. It was only reasonable that they would, but something stopped him. Atem’s phrasing made him rethink his response.

Had Yuugi been here, he would have gotten between them, turned those big, round eyes of his on them and made them apologize for their tone. He would have asked Seto to speak his mind, in calm tones, and then Atem to do the same. And he would have refuted each and every argument with one of his own, never raising his voice, yet never letting up either.

But Yuugi was not present.

“Seto, please look at me.”

Atem was looking his way now. Seto didn’t know if it was relief or dread he was feeling. Perhaps a mixture of both.

“You got what you wanted. It was ‘ _fun’_ while it lasted. It’s about time for everyone to go back to their stations.” Seto took in a shuddering breath, cursing himself for it. These two had made him soft. It should not have been possible for two midgets to even begin to undo his ‘training’. “You are doing both of us no favors by stalling.”

Atem’s searching gaze must have stumbled on something because he took a step forward. “Oh, Seto…” Slowly but steadily he made his way over to the desk to perch on the surface, next to him. Warm fingers nudged his jaw, tucked under his chin and turned his head marginally. “Is what you really believe?” Atem’s eyes were filled with guilt Seto could not begin to place. “Because if it is,” Atem went on before he could formulate a response. “Then we have done something extremely wrong.”

Seto blinked. Where was Atem going with this? It was not possible that he insinuated-

“Foolish dragon.” There it was. But Seto didn’t want to hear it.

“Don’t patronize me,” he snapped.

“No, I wouldn’t. It’s nothing but the truth.”

Seto’s gaze snapped to Atem’s and locked there. Atem smirked, but it was small and sad.

“How can you really believe that we could leave you.  After all these years, Seto. Have we done anything in the past four years to merit this view you seem to have of us? I cannot begin to imagine what is going on inside your head. A foolish dragon indeed! That day, all those years ago, I saw your heart.” Seto flinched at the mention of Death T. Atem cupped his face in both his hands to keep him there. “Hear me out. I saw your heart, and I believed in you, believed you could be something great. And that was years ago. Look at how far you’ve come. Don’t clam up on us now. You’re better than this.” Atem smiled a little, his thumb stroking Seto’s cheek while the other hand made its way to Seto’s chest. It poked into his pectoral. “That’s why in here you should know that’s bullshit.”

Only when Atem stopped talking, looking at him expectantly did Seto realize he had let himself be petted. He could have moved back any time, yet he hadn’t. Beyond embarrassed and angry at himself, he made to push his chair away and stand. Atem followed. The difference was minimal in his case.

“Why.” The word escaped unbidden. How could Atem do this to him, tune him up and make him go.

“Why what?” Atem asked.

“Why do you stay? Why would you even want to, when Yuugi is away. You made it pretty clear that this was a package deal.” Seto crossed his arms, then uncrossed them again, his fists curled to the side.

Atem’s eyebrow twitched. “It’s a relationship, not a business negotiation Seto. Yuugi went to university. He will be back, we keep in contact. Or I do. Do you know he misses you? Well you would know if you would pick up the damn phone!”

“He’ll be fine.” Seto took small pride in not flinching, despite his statement ringing inadequate even to his own ears.

“Oh really now.” Atem moved his arms to his hips, then slid them to his back pockets. He looked to the side, biting his cheek. “Seto,” he sighed. “This has to stop. You can’t keep expecting me to never come back every other weekend I visit Yuugi. I don’t know what to do. You have to help me.”

Seto snorted. “I don’t need your help or your pity. It is common knowledge that you would never pick someone over your precious ‘aibou’.”

“Do I have to?” Atem frowned. “And where is all this coming from anyway. Have you already written Yuugi off? You’ve gone and made a scenario in your head where Yuugi is off limits, categorized him completely in my side of the field. Well news flash, Seto. He hasn’t, and you’re making him worry. I worry. All three of us are in this. And it’s difficult, yes, but it won’t be forever. And then we’ll have all the time in the world.”

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll go on. That he will move further and further away where he is.” He should have the carpets cleaned one of these days.

“No, I’m not. Because I know him and I have faith in him.”

“That’s nice.”

“What’s so difficult to believe? That you are part of this connection or that someone would choose you at all.” Atem was once again in front of him, his fingers uncurling Seto’s gently and laying them flat against his. Their fingers slid through the cracks easily and threaded together, palm against palm. Seto didn’t fight it. It sounded so good, too good to be true. But something inside him was screaming at him to believe it and it was growing bigger and bigger by the second.

“Why do you stay,” he asked again, gaze fixed on their joined hands.

“Because I want to.” Their eyes met. Atem’s crimson irises were no longer burning with fury but a lingering warmth greeted him. “Because I love you. And I love him too. And no distance would ever change either of those facts. The difference is Yuugi knows I do, and he knows he can come to me. But you, dragon, are a ridiculous and stubborn creature. It’s okay, it just means I’ll be here to remind you.”

Atem’s arms came around him, his fingers splaying on Seto’s stiff back and Seto had to take a moment to let it all sink in. His mind raced to wrap around the fact that Atem wasn’t leaving, Atem was staying, and if he was to be believed, he would be for a while yet. He wanted to believe him, and the desperation behind it scared him.

Slowly, his own arms came around his much smaller frame, palms landing on his hips before they made the journey upwards to hold onto the opposite shoulder. He felt his body curl inward to accommodate the familiar position, his head resting on Atem’s, tricolor hair tickling his neck. Atem sighed where he was pressed against his chest and squeezed him tighter for a moment before he pulled his head back just enough to look at him. A peck on the lips, soft and dry, turned into two, then three. There was no rush in them, no expectation either.

When Atem steered him gently out of the room, Seto went pliantly. Once in their bedroom, he accepted the warm touches, the caresses, the kisses, even as the last articles of clothing never came off and let them wash off the poisonous doubt that had plagued him all these months. He basked in the softly spoken endearments, heard Atem’s deep and breathy voice say “dragon” over and over and felt his chest vibrate with it.

It might not be the end of it, but it was a start.


	2. Chapter 2

 

Yuugi jiggled his leg against the side of the bed. He had the laptop propped open on the mattress and the other leg tucked underneath him. He glanced at the small digital clock at the corner to see it was three minutes to seven when it beeped with an incoming call.

A smile immediately coming to his lips, he pressed the green button and Atem’s face filled the screen. The other grinned widely and waved, drawing back after adjusting the tilt of the screen. He was seated similarly on the king bed of the master bedroom, both of his legs crossed under his body and only the minimum of clothing on, namely boxers and a tight t-shirt.

“My, Atem.” Yuugi tilted his head, taking in the view. He was very glad his room-mate was out. Very very glad.

“Sorry Aibou. I fell asleep,” Atem apologized with a sheepish smile, hand rising to cup the nape of his neck.

“Seto is not home I’m guessing?” Atem had filled Yuugi in on the previous night’s incident over the phone some hours earlier, after lunch. Yuugi had been swarmed by remorse at having been the cause of Seto’s relapse but he was also glad that Atem had managed to handle it so well. They had even slept in, afterwards, without the smallest protest on Seto’s part.

“No. But there was this thing today, some important company; they had to squeeze it in. I didn’t quite catch it but it probably ran late. He’ll be here. I have faith.”

Yuugi smiled and nodded readily. When Atem put his faith into something, it was never for naught. “I haven’t tried to call him today either.”

“And it’s a good thing, Aibou. He has to do this himself.”

As if on cue, there was a low beeping sound and Atem’s head turned towards the bedroom door. The grin immediately returned to his face and he glanced at the clock. Yuugi’s heart did a funny thing. “Look what the cat dragged in, aibou. Why, dragon, this is a new record.”

Yuugi’s cheeks hurt from smiling so widely. His stomach was flipping in anticipation. Finally. Finally. Atem held one finger up to the camera before jumping up. The video was disturbed by the bounce, but a moment later Atem returned to the bed, dragging Seto into the frame. Seeing him, after so long, made Yuugi’s heart unclench. “Seto! Finally. Finally… I missed you so much. You’re an idiot, you know that? A giant, genius _idiot_!” Yuugi rambled, dizzy with relief. He could never stay mad at him, not on his life. Especially when Seto looked appropriately embarrassed at his own behavior. The fact that he let it show, spoke volumes to Yuugi.

Seto nodded. “So this is the greeting I get. I deserve it.” It was as close to an apology as Seto was going to ever come.

Yuugi caught the barest impression of Atem’s fingers threading through Seto’s hair at the base of his neck in a show of solidarity. He was glad, since he couldn’t reach him himself. Yuugi shook his head, fingers toying with the end of his shirt. “You’re the biggest fool, yes, but you’re our fool. I love you. I missed you, gods how I missed you. Do you hear this? I missed you. I love you. Imagine this. _Wild_.” Yuugi chuckled. He was rambling still, maybe. But he was giddy, happy to finally see Seto even through the screen, to hear him, to know he was there first hand. And Seto needed to hear it even more than he needed to say it.

Seto could only nod in response. He would not say it, especially over video-feed, but it was okay. None of them would pressure him. Atem hummed, the high tech speakers doing the low sound no justice at all. Yuugi felt a little robbed. Yet Atem’s tender look as he gazed sideways at Seto more than made up for the loss. Dark fingers tucked a few chestnut locks behind Seto’s ear and trailed down the side of his neck. “How was your day, Dragon?”

“Much like any of them are.” He cleared his throat, looking down at the comforter, sideways to the wall, then down again. “I… There’s this expanse of land the corporation is considering for the new Kaiba Land. It’s actually not that far from the university. Maybe a mile or two.” Yuugi perked up with each word. He was ready to spring up from his seat. If the next words out of Seto’s mouth were- if he meant what Yuugi thought he did- “I will have to review it personally, of course, and I was thinking Saturday. Of course, what would normally be a day-long journey could be suitably extended to become a long weekend.”

Atem looked equally excited and proud, his own face split in two with the force of his smile. One of his hands clutched Seto’s forearm, probably unconsciously. “That is, unless you have other plans?” Seto glanced up at that. Yuugi let it sink in for a few seconds before he squealed. He capped his hands over his mouth, embarrassed, but he was still smiling under them. He could feel his eyes beginning to sting and forced the lump in his throat down.

“Yes! Hell, yes! Yes! Oh Seto please tell me it’s fixed.”

Seto scowled. “I wouldn’t announce it like that if it wasn’t, would I?”

“Dragon, that’s wonderful. Awfully sneaky too.” Atem launched himself at Seto, his arms coming around his neck and his rich, joyful laugh echoing slightly muffled by the crook Seto’s neck.

Seto managed to wrestle him into his lap to stop him moving, a bewildered and a little embarrassed smile playing on his own lips. Atem brushed Seto’s long bangs back, letting his open approval show. Yuugi himself had been laughing, happy and elated, but he managed to calm himself enough to say, “Yami, please kiss him for me. Properly.”

“Your wish is my command, aibou.” And Atem’s lips were on Seto’s, one of his hands cupping the side of Seto’s face closest to the camera. Seto’s hand, previously on Atem’s waist slid up into his hair while the other stayed on his knee. Melancholy filled Yuugi’s chest with an unpleasant tightness, little needles playing at his heart. He would go to sleep alone after this was over, after all. For all he had Atem every second weekend, the last time he had them both seemed simultaneously like forever ago and yesterday night. Sometimes, when he went to sleep, the only thing that would put him under was imagining Seto’s arms around him, vice tight, and Atem’s head in the crook of his neck or Atem’s back pressed against his chest, Seto’s arm thrown over them both.

Other nights, it was what kept him awake, his loneliness not pacified until the sun rose and he called Atem, making up this reason or the other, just to hear his voice, mushed and rough from sleep.

Seto pulled back. “Ahh.” He smiled, a real, lopsided smile. Yuugi’s heart thumped at the sight. “That’s good and all, but it won’t do. You’ll have to do it yourself, shrimp. Soon.”

“Se- Seto…!”

“Don’t cry, partner.” Yuugi hastily wiped at his cheeks with his sleeve, to have it come away wet. He hadn’t even realized. “We’ll be there before you know it.”

“Nobody said anything about you,” Seto interjected, smirking.

“Oh, is that so?” Atem challenged. “Who’s to forbid me? You?”

“Hmmm… I could, since it’s my jet.”

“That’s war, Seto. I hope you realize.” Atem was still, suspiciously so.

“Is it now?” Seto’s smile was cheeky as he looked at Atem. Faster than you could blink, Atem attacked with a pillow, catching Seto square in the face. Yet he could not get out of Seto’s lap fast enough, and Seto managed to grab him well around the hips and wrestle him down. Atem shrieked with laughter as Seto’s fingers rappidly dug in his sides.

Yuugi grinned at them. Next weekend, they would both fly out here. Despite Seto’s teasing, they all knew he would have it no other way. More likely, Seto would rent the most unnecessarily expensive suite in some ridiculous hotel where they would proceed to spend the whole weekend together, wrapped up in each other’s arms. A weekend was not nearly enough, but it would have to suffice, at least for a while. After this one, many more were sure to follow. Once Seto put his mind to something, after all, not even the end of the world could keep him away.

Yuugi couldn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are friends. I have an exam tomorrow, and the day after, but what am i doing? I am writing these idiots. I hope this clears up Yuugi's side of things. I feel like he would be lonely and saddened because he missed them, but at the same time he wouldn't want to burden them too much with it. So yes, he calls Atem when he can't handle it, but they don't mention it. Atem is mostly asleep in the morning and Yuugi likes to take advantage of that. It reminds him of home.  
> Seto, now, Seto probably spent an extra hour or two finding himself a reason to visit Yuugi without admiting so. What an idiot. 
> 
> Plz take a minute to comment if u have it?? I'll be grateful to hear your thoughts. <3


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